TOW #8 - Just Kids (Part Two)

"When I look at it now, I never see me. I see us."

     Patti Smith concludes Just Kids, “This is the story… he wished me to tell and I have kept my promise.” This is absolutely true: she writes an impressively detailed account of her time with Robert Mapplethorpe, living and loving and working ceaselessly as artists. Her work contains points of potential greatness, but they are buried within three-hundred pages of jagged anecdotes and unnecessary details.

     There is a definite appeal for her fans: they get a sneak peek into the early inspirations of some of her greatest hits. However, to those less practiced in 1970s music lingo, half a dozen name-drops in one paragraph is more overkill than incredible. Still, her tone is not pretentious in any way – it’s terribly honest and even innocent at times, such as in this anecdote: “Someone at Max’s asked me if I was androgynous… I thought the word meant both beautiful and ugly at the same time. Whatever it meant, with just a haircut, I miraculously turned androgynous overnight.” She has no qualms about revealing the blindness with which she fell into her rock ‘n’ roll life, and that bluntly truthful tone adds to her credibility.

     Smith also shows off her skill with syntax, as expected from a poet and songwriter of her caliber: “Robert dying: creating silence. Myself, destined to live, listening closely to a silence that would take a lifetime to express.” In these simple statements, she is able to portray the unbreakable bond between Mapplethorpe and herself, the foundation of the story.

     Despite these positives to her writing, the plot began to drag early on as a result of Smith's straight retelling of events. Perhaps it seemed impossible to make the story a beautiful one, with a well-scripted plot and enrapturing characters, and still have honestly told their story. Smith's straightforward approach is what some readers fall in love with. However, I cannot say this is a top book of mine – I certainly fail to connect with it in many ways, and I simply do not believe it appeals to a great enough audience with a great enough impact to be considered so.